Temple University American Marketing Association
Student Professional Organizations (SPOs) are an excellent way for students to build their networks (personal and professional) and to gain valuable skills that will prepare them for their future careers. And many students at Temple University earn exciting internships and their first post-graduation jobs through active involvement in one of the many Fox School of Business SPOs.
Alana Vicale, the president of the College Council (the four-person board that oversees all Fox SPOs), has landed two internships through her involvement with Gamma Iota Sigma. A senior majoring in risk management and minoring in finance, Vicale worked last summer in New York City for a brokerage firm; this summer she was in Cincinnati as a risk solutions intern with Great American Insurance Group.
“If I wasn’t involved in SPOs, I wouldn’t have had these opportunities,” says Vicale. “One of the best things about all the Fox SPOs is they give you great access to people from the real work world. A lot of what you learn in the classroom is very technical and textbook based, and SPOs give you a chance to meet people from the industry. SPOs are a great way to meet new people and build your network.”
To help you make a decision on which of the Fox SPOs to join this semester, we asked Vicale to provide some info about five of them. Learn more about the others on the Fox School website.
1. American Marketing Association (AMA)
“A lot of what AMA does is real, actual marketing case competitions, which are great; they went to Wall Street Journal this year for a case competition where 84 people from Temple participated. They were also semi-finalists for Mary Kay and placed first for Proctor & Gamble case competitions. This allows students to interact with CMOs and VPs of marketing from big firms, who often come for speaker events, too.”
Learn more at the Temple American Marketing Association website.
2. Association for Information Systems (AIS)
“AIS has about 42 chapters internationally. This year they placed second in the National Data Analytics Challenge in Dallas, and the president just told me that, of all the chapters, Temple AIS won the most awards at their national competition. My favorite thing about AIS is how much community service they do; their members volunteered 600 times this past year. They work with Red Cross, the Children’s Hospital, Philabundance, and others. And AIS always has high-level guest speakers come talk to students.”
Learn more at the Temple Association for Information Systems website.
3. Beta Alpha Psi (BAP)
“Beta Alpha Psi has over 300 chapters internationally and is very unique. It’s for honors students and you can only apply after you’ve taken at least one 3000 level course and maintained a GPO above 3.0. It represents accounting, finance, and informational systems, so it’s really diverse with students from all three majors. Last semester they had the CEO of the Phillies, the CEO of Saxby’s, and a CAO from Vanguard as guest speakers. They have a great career fair and networking events, too. BAP provides great experiences and opportunities for students.”
Learn more at the Temple Beta Alpha Psi website.
Alana Vicale, College Council president
4. Gamma Iota Sigma (GIS)
“GIS, with 624 members, is the largest SPO at Temple and includes risk management, healthcare management, and actuarial science majors. It’s massive; we’re also the biggest chapter worldwide. We have a strong, leading speaker series with very high-level executives in the insurance industry. GIS has opened up a lot of doors for me personally. We really encourage professional development and for members to attend the networking events, etiquette workshops, mock interviews, professional portraits, etc. GIS provides a lot of great resources.”
Learn more at the Temple Gamma Iota Sigma website.
5. Professional Sales Organization (PSO)
“I’m always impressed with PSO. All these organizations are student-run, but PSO is truly, truly student-run. They regularly place in the top five in international and national sales competitions. This year they placed second out of 140 competitors in the speed sell division at the International Collegiate Sales Competition. And they recently had a big case competition with judges from Comcast and AFLAC, and Temple placed first, second, and third. Our students came out on top!”
Learn more at the Temple Professional Sales Organization website.